TAOnline offers a special, high profile section to help promote jobs that are manually posted by companies. These "one-off" job postings are visible in a separate section of the TAOnline to help job seekers see opportunities from all organizations, regardless of company size.What are Small Biz Jobs?

Current Events

The TAOnline Current Events section will keep you up-to-date on the most recent
transitioning military career related happenings. This section is updated bi-weekly,
so feel free to bookmark it and come back often.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Veterans looking for a job will now get an extra boost via new
and free education and networking perks, first lady Michelle Obama announced Monday
as part of the administration's efforts to get more troops hired after they leave
the military.

"It's about making your transition to a fulfilling and wonderful civilian career
as seamless as possible," Obama said. "Because we know that leaving the military
can feel like you're stepping into a whole new world. And in the past few years,
too many veterans have struggled during these crucial few months right after you
hang up that uniform."

To improve their prospects for being hired, all veterans are now eligible for a
free certificate for select courses on Coursera, an online site where users can
take college courses in a variety of topics, Obama said during a keynote address
to the Business and Professional Women's (BPW) Foundation.

The courses range from data science and cybersecurity to entrepreneurship and health
care.

Coursera is also partnering with the Department of Veterans Affairs to launch 20
"learning hubs" around the country — physical centers that would offer online access
and support for veterans on the job hunt.

After completing a Coursera course, veterans can upload the certificate to online
job networking giant LinkedIn, which will also be offering a free one-year premium
subscription that would otherwise cost about $360 a year.

The subscription will allow the veterans to appear as featured applicants to potential
employers, and will allow the vets to access training materials tailored for those
who served in the military and contact anyone on the network.

"This commitment doesn't just give you a leg up on your competition, it saves you
money and saves your family some money as well," Obama said.

LinkedIn will also be integrated with the Veterans Employment Center, the online
database system the VA launched this year to help veterans connect with employers.
Veterans will be able to upload their VEC profile to LinkedIn, as well as access
resources specifically for veterans.

Last month, the unemployment rate for female veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan
was 11.2 percent, five points higher than male veterans from the same wars and more
than double the rate for civilian women, Obama said.

"That's just wrong," she said. "After everything ... all of you have done for this
country, the fact that any of you are worrying about where your next paycheck is
going to come from, or struggling to put food on the table — that should be appalling
to all of us as Americans."

The announcements came as part of a female veterans career development forum held
at the women's memorial at Arlington National Cemetery ahead of Veterans Day. The
event was a follow-up to a private roundtable in July in which Obama met with five
female veterans to discuss challenges they faced in finding civilian jobs after
leaving the military.

Among them was Trish Freeland, who retired as a chief master sergeant after 30 years
in the Air Force. While serving, she developed training and financial plans, earned
a leadership award, and got her bachelor's and master's degrees with honors.

"I didn't think I would have any trouble finding a job after leaving the military,
but I quickly found out that wasn't the case," said Freeland, adding that while
she had the experience that employers were looking for, she lacked the experience
in specific fields. "How do I get that when I've been 30 years in the military?"

Freeland eventually participated in a mentoring program where she received interview
preparation, and six weeks ago she landed a job as a public information officer
with the Small Business Administration in St. Louis.

To other veterans who are looking for a job, she recommends getting a degree to
stay competitive and reaching out to other veterans working at companies of interest.

"Anything you can do that makes it easier for veterans to connect with companies
is going to help tremendously," Freeland said of Obama's announcement. "I didn't
know very many people in companies that I wanted to work for. So these portals that
they're creating help veterans get a foot in the door. It's going to be extremely
beneficial."